A Social System Analysis of Dissolved and Existing Marriages

The issue of order and disorder withirt the conjugal family is examined from the standpoint of the four elements of family organization and interaction suggested by Bell and Vogel. A sample of existing marriages is compared with a sample of dissolved marriages over economic-, community-, authority-, and ideological-type variables. Existing marriages were characterized by greater convergence over economicand community-type variables and lesser conflict and greater compromise than dissolved marriages. There was similarity between the two groups in terms of ideological factors. The study is exploratory in nature, and its conclusions are to be considered hypotheses for further testing.